EuroLeague is at a major crossroads, and the NBA Europe project has turned that into a real stress test.
If EuroLeague wants to remain the top competition on the continent, European basketball, and the league itself, will have to evolve.
And it's not only about NBA Europe as a direct competitor, one that could realistically surpass EuroLeague thanks to the NBA's financial power and global reputation.
It's also about the internal pressure that's been building for years: teams are increasingly unhappy with the calendar, the volume of games, and the sense that EuroLeague rosters simply can't survive this schedule without a heavy toll on health.
When players can't stay healthy, the product suffers. The quality drops, continuity disappears, and you stop seeing the true potential of the competition, because the season becomes shaped as much by external factors as by basketball itself.
The injury wave we're seeing this season only makes that point louder.
Injury
Injury
Credit Vangelis Stolis
So yes, NBA Europe is a massive part of the story. But even without it, the system would still need to change.
New Teams are Dominating the Standings
EuroLeague already took one major step this year, expanding from 18 to 20 teams. But the format didn't change; the league simply added two more teams, which means more games, more load, and more strain.
And the fact that expansion happened without a structural overhaul has already revealed a few important things – including some key points I'll get into next.
The two teams that entered the competition from the EuroCup were Valencia and Hapoel Tel Aviv.
And what's fascinating is that they haven't just "survived" the step up. Right now, they look like two of the best teams in the entire EuroLeague, both in the standings and in the way they play.
At this point of the season, Hapoel are first at 13-5, and Valencia are second at 12-6. In other words, two clubs that weren't even in the league last year are dominating the first half of the season.
With Hapoel, you could argue it was at least somewhat predictable.
They approached roster building aggressively, invested big money, and essentially built a EuroLeague-level squad overnight.
Given their budget and the talent they brought in, it's not shocking that they've hit the ground running and ended up at the top.
Valencia, though, is the more interesting case – because they didn't "EuroLeague-proof" their roster by going shopping for established EuroLeague names.
They essentially kept the core of what they already had from EuroCup and the ACB, and the additions they made weren't classic EuroLeague imports either.
Instead, they targeted players who were thriving in strong contexts outside the EuroLeague ecosystem, for example, bringing in pieces from teams like Unicaja, and building around that foundation rather than tearing it down and starting from scratch.
Taylor and Moore
Taylor and Moore
Credit ZUMAPRESS.com - Scanpix
Why the "Elite Level" Myth is Fading
The point isn't that Valencia arrived and simply collected EuroLeague-level stars. The point is that they kept their identity, kept their base, added smart fits, and now they're playing genuinely elite basketball.
And this is where it connects directly to the bigger argument. For years, there's been this myth in EuroLeague discourse, especially during transfer windows, that "EuroLeague level" is some unreachable, almost protected status.
The way people talk, you'd think only the same 18 clubs, the same circle of coaches, the same pool of players can possibly belong, because the system is closed and the level is untouchable.
That's simply not true. Paris already exposed that myth when they came up from EuroCup, had an outstanding first season, and even made the playoffs.
And now Hapoel and Valencia are proving it again – even more clearly, because they aren't just competitive, they're leading the league.
What this tells us is that EuroLeague isn't some exclusive basketball universe where only the "chosen" clubs can function.
There are absolutely teams outside the current inner circle that can play at this level, and in many cases would be better than some clubs that have been in the league for years without producing meaningful results.
Paris
Paris
Credit Paris Basketball
Ready-Made Candidates for EuroLeague Expansion
So it's not only about the schedule. Even beyond workload issues, there are structural changes that would objectively improve European basketball: splitting into conferences to reduce the number of games, moving to a full playoff format instead of the Final Four, and generally redesigning the competition.
Hence, the season makes more sense from both a sporting and a health perspective.
But one point matters just as much in this debate: there are clubs outside the current EuroLeague circle that are genuinely ready, and they wouldn't enter the league just to suffer through it.
They have the level, the infrastructure, and the ambition to compete.
If we look at potential candidates, Hapoel Jerusalem is an obvious example. They have a strong roster, are competing in the EuroCup, and already have plenty of players with high-level EuroLeague experience.
And the key is this: if they were given a EuroLeague spot, they wouldn't stand still – they would almost certainly increase their budget again.
Even now, they're spending at a level that's already higher than many EuroLeague teams, and that's precisely why they'd be competitive not only in year one, but long-term.
Another serious project is Bahcesehir in Turkey. They're a well-run club with a really interesting roster, the kind of team that already looks like it belongs on the EuroLeague stage.
You're talking about players like Malachi Flynn and Trevion Williams, names that would immediately add value to the product and would be genuinely interesting to watch against top EuroLeague competition.
And again: if they moved up, they'd reinforce the roster even more. With their organization and their resources, they're clearly a club that could be ready for the EuroLeague.
That's already two. And I'm confident more projects across Europe are ready for that step, or would become ready the moment the door is truly open, because a EuroLeague place changes everything: motivation rises, investment rises, sponsorship rises, and the whole organization scales up.
The Case for Playoffs Over the Final Four
Which is why this isn't just an "add more teams" discussion. The real challenge is to find a model where:
The regular season has fewer games and is more sustainable, but the end of the season becomes the biggest part of the calendar, where titles are decided from a larger sample size and a truer competitive filter.
Because the idea that one game can decide a championship, as iconic as the Final Four atmosphere is, is still objectively strange.
It's too fragile as a sporting mechanism. In a single game, anything can happen.
And that's precisely why we've seen it so many times: the best team over the course of the season doesn't always win the EuroLeague.
The Final Four has its magic, no doubt – but if we're talking about maximizing sporting fairness and the long-term credibility of the competition, a real playoff system is simply harder to argue against.
Vukašin Nedeljković
Vukašin played basketball competitively in his youth, and now contributes to Synergy Sports Technology and Sportradar regarding basketball analysis. He also has experience working as a journalist in Serbia and is passionate about writing basketball articles mainly focused on basketball X's and O's.
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